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Montana State University awarded $26.7M grant from U.S. Air Force – Daily Montanan [1] ['Keila Szpaller', 'More From Author', '- December'] Date: 2023-12-20 Montana State University was awarded a $26.7 million grant from the U.S. Air Force to support moving quantum technology applications from concept to market — and potentially, space. “People should know that this is the second quantum revolution,” said Yves Idzerda, physicist and dean of MSU’s College of Letters and Sciences and principal investigator for the grant. “The first one occurred when we discovered electricity.” Out of the first came radios, televisions and the internet, Idzerda said. “It was transformational for society,” he said in an interview. “Quantum materials have that same potential, to be that transformational.” The grant will establish a facility, named the Applied Quantum CORE, with roughly 10 employees. It will also fund equipment to test prototype quantum components in extremely cold environments. Idzerda, also administrator for CORE, said some of the devices that are tested might end up being used in outer space. The 20-month grant builds on decades of work at the Bozeman flagship. It also demonstrates the close relationships between the campus and local economy and is expected to support economic development in the state, according to the head of economic development for the City of Bozeman. Brit Fontenot, director of economic development and community relations for Bozeman, said MSU has come far in photonics, or the study of light waves, and optics over the last three decades, and the recent grant for quantum technology builds on its ongoing work. “It’s the next generation of computing … It has some really enormous implications across the spectrum.” *** Fontenot said MSU’s work in computing, quantum communications and sensors sets it apart, and the state’s photonics industry is starting to hit its stride. Related companies spun out of MSU years ago through the technology transfer office, and Fontenot said he anticipates a similar result with more recent developments at the university. “If you can’t commercialize intellectual property, its value diminishes,” he said. He pointed to Bridger Photonics as one example of commercial success that came out of academic work. The company’s website describes its focus as state-of-the-art methane missions detection technology. Fontenot said Bridger Photonics is signing multimillion dollar contracts with oil and gas companies to map pipelines. Quantum technology has a plethora of market applications in finance, bioscience, biotechnology, medical care, computing and other fields, he said. For example, in the vaccine world, he said, it may mean modeling that’s done more quickly than previous tests, bringing a safe vaccine to reality on a much accelerated timeline. “Quantum is as disruptive as anything we’ve seen,” Fontenot said. “It’s going to relate to how we relate to some of these really impactful industries.” In the context of innovation, Fontenot said, it’s important to note that MSU is at the heart of the conversations about the recently announced Regional Innovation and Technology Hub designation in Montana, and that the entire Montana University System is bringing every asset at its disposal to bear. The designation means a consortium of businesses and universities in the state may use portions of a $75 million grant to advance American technology. *** The current grant builds on an earlier $20 million National Science Foundation grant to support the MonArk Quantum Foundry in Bozeman, a project led by MSU and the University of Arkansas. Its mission is to accelerate two-dimensional materials research for quantum technologies in the U.S. “This (Air Force) award wouldn’t have been here if we didn’t have this Quantum Foundry,” Idzerda said. In a news release about the new grant, MSU described quantum physics and the work of its researchers in relation to it. Quantum physics deals with tiny particles, smaller than the parts that make up an atom. Scientists are discovering how to manipulate those particles to “create faster, more sensitive and more precise systems in electronics, including sensors, location systems, computers and medical equipment.” The new facility at MSU will support scientists and entrepreneurs who want to incorporate the advances into useful devices. “What we will do is test new devices that people create, and we’ll find out what the faults are with some of them,” Idzerda said. The facility will have special refrigerators that can reach temperatures as cold as minus 459.7 degrees Fahrenheit, where even small vibrations in atoms go away. Quantum components need to withstand very cold temperatures, but the refrigerators are expensive, so many components being developed haven’t been tested in extreme environments, according to MSU. The facility will help troubleshoot components, refine ones that show promise, and bring products to market with a business incubator and accelerator. “There’s a lot of science driving this, but the next phase is economic development,” Idzerda said. “How do we take these ideas, which the first phase funded, and turn them into a product or into a company? That’s really what we’re headed for in the long run.” *** Although the grant to MSU may support economic development, that endeavor takes place in a community with significant housing affordability challenges. The median cost of a single-family home in Bozeman is $837,000, according to the Bozeman Realty Group. The median family income is $74,113, according to the U.S. Census; one online calculator estimates at that income, a family could generally afford a house of $300,000 to $400,000 depending on the down payment and other factors. Fontenot said all the pieces of the puzzle need to work together, including child care, housing, and jobs that are aligned with the prices people need to pay for those needs. “If that’s not available or difficult to achieve, it’s going to have a negative impact on our ability to grow and to meet all these lofty goals we’ve set for ourselves,” he said. MSU has added more net housing, he said, and he estimated another 1,700 units of housing are in the pipeline for all different types of homes, including a significant portion considered affordable by U.S. Housing and Urban Development standards at 80% to 120% of Area Median Income. To keep making progress, he said it’s important for city and university officials to continue to collaborate. Fontenot also said he gives credit to the professors and president of MSU for having the vision and best minds in the country — “perhaps the world” — to keep the university and community moving forward. “These are people who are at the top of their game,” Fontenot said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/12/20/montana-state-university-awarded-26-7m-grant-from-u-s-air-force/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/